Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Synthetic hosts by monomolecular imprinting inside dendrimers

  • Letter
  • Published:

From Nature

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Abstract

Synthetic host systems capable of selectively binding guest molecules are of interest for applications ranging from separations and chemical or biological sensing to the development of biomedical materials. Such host systems can be efficiently prepared by ‘imprinting’ polymers or inorganic materials with template molecules, which, upon removal, leave behind spatially arranged functional groups that act as recognition sites1,2,3,4. However, molecularly imprinted polymers have limitations, including incomplete template removal, broad guest affinities and selectivities, and slow mass transfer5,6,7,8. An alternative strategy for moulding desired recognition sites uses combinatorial libraries of assemblies that are made of a relatively small number of molecules, interconverting in dynamic equilibrium; upon addition of a target molecule, the library equilibrium shifts towards the best hosts9,10,11. Here we describe the dynamic imprinting of dendritic macromolecules with porphyrin templates to yield synthetic host molecules containing one binding site each. The process is based on our general strategy to prepare cored dendrimers12,13, and involves covalent attachment of dendrons to a porphyrin core, cross-linking of the end-groups of the dendrons, and removal of the porphyrin template by hydrolysis. In contrast to more traditional polymer imprinting, our approach ensures nearly homogeneous binding sites and quantitative template removal. Moreover, the hosts are soluble in common organic solvents and amenable to the incorporation of other functional groups, which should facilitate further development of this system for novel applications.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1: Scheme illustrating the preparation of imprinted dendrimer 6.
Figure 2: Structural drawing illustrating structural changes that occur upon hydrolysis of the cross-linked dendrimer 5.
Figure 3: Porphyrins used to study binding properties of imprinted dendrimer 6.
Figure 4: Calculated structure of imprinted dendrimer 6 built by iterative attachment of dendrons to the core porphyrin, minimization and cross-linking of neighbouring double bonds.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wulff, G. & Sarhan, A. The use of polymers with enzyme-analogous structures for the resolution of racemates. Angew. Chem. Int. Edn Engl. 11, 341–343 (1972)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Shea, K. J. Molecular imprinting of synthetic network polymers: the de novo synthesis of macromolecular binding and catalytic sites. Trends Polym. Sci. 2, 166–173 (1994)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Andersson, L., Sellergren, B. & Mosbach, K. Imprinting of amino acid derivatives in macroporous polymers. Tetrahedr. Lett. 25, 5211–5214 (1984)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Katz, A. & Davis, M. E. Molecular imprinting of bulk, microporous silica. Nature 403, 286–289 (2000)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Wulff, G. Molecular imprinting in cross-linked materials with the aid of molecular templates—a way towards artificial antibodies. Angew. Chem. Int. Edn Engl. 34, 1812–1832 (1995)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Katz, A. & Davis, M. Investigations into the mechanisms of molecular recognition with imprinted polymers. Macromolecules 32, 4113–4121 (1999)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Sellergren, B. & Shea, K. J. Influence of polymer morphology on the ability of imprinted network polymers to resolve enantiomers. J. Chromatogr. 635, 39–41 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Vlatakis, G., Andersson, L. I., Muller, R. & Mosbach, K. Drug assay using antibody mimics made by molecular imprinting. Nature 361, 645–647 (1993)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Lehn, J.-M. & Eliseev, A. V. Dynamic combinatorial chemistry. Science 291, 2331–2332 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Cousins, G. R. L., Poulsen, S.-A. & Sanders, J. K. M. Molecular evolution: dynamic combinatorial libraries, autocatalytic networks and the quest for molecular function. Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 4, 270–279 (2000)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Klekota, B. & Miller, B. L. Dynamic diversity and small-molecule evolution: a new paradigm for ligand identification. Trends Biotechnol. 17, 205–209 (1999)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Wendland, M. S. & Zimmerman, S. C. Synthesis of cored dendrimers. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 121, 1389–1390 (1999)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Schultz, L. G., Zhao, Y. & Zimmerman, S. C. Synthesis of cored dendrimers with internal cross-links. Angew. Chem. Int. Edn Engl. 40, 1962–1966 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Newkome, G. R., Moorefield, C. N. & Vögtle, F. Dendrimers and Dendrons: Concepts, Syntheses, Perspectives (Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2001)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  15. Sanders, J. K. M. Templated chemistry of porphyrin oligomers. Compreh. Supramolec. Chem. 9, 131–164 (1996)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Rakow, N. A. & Suslick, K. S. A colorimetric sensor array for odour visualization. Nature 406, 710–714 (2000)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Matsui, J., Higashi, M. & Takeuchi, T. Molecularly imprinted polymer as 9-ethyladenine receptor having a porphyrin-based recognition center. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 122, 5218–5219 (2000)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Ogoshi, H. & Mizutani, T. Novel approaches to molecular recognition using porphyrins. Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 3, 736–739 (1999)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Bhyrappa, P., Young, J. K., Moore, J. S. & Suslick, K. S. Dendrimer-metalloporphyrins: synthesis and catalysis. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 118, 5708–5711 (1996)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Dandliker, P. J., Diederich, F., Gisselbrecht, J.-P., Louati, A. & Gross, M. Water-soluble dendritic iron porphyrins: synthetic models of globular heme proteins. Angew. Chem. Int. Edn Engl. 34, 2725–2728 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Sadamoto, R., Tomioka, N. & Aida, T. Photoinduced electron transfer reactions through dendrimer architecture. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 118, 3978–3979 (1996)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Balzani, V. et al. Dendrimers based on photoactive metal complexes. Recent advances. Coord. Chem. Rev. 219–221, 545–572 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Hawker, C. J. & Frechet, J. M. J. A new convergent approach to monodisperse dendritic macromolecules. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 112, 7638–7647 (1990)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Trnka, T. M. & Grubbs, R. H. The development of L2X2Ru = CHR olefin metathesis catalysts: an organometallic success story. Acc. Chem. Res. 34, 18–29 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Coates, G. W. & Grubbs, R. H. Quantitative ring-closing metathesis of polyolefins. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 118, 229–230 (1996)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Adler, A. D. et al. A simplified synthesis of meso-tetraphenylporphyrin. J. Org. Chem. 32, 476 (1967)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Rho, T. & Abuh, F. One-pot synthesis of pyrimidine-5-carboxaldehyde and ethyl pyrimidine-5-carboxylate by utilizing pyrimidin-5-yl-lithium. Synth. Commun. 24, 253–256 (1994)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Collman, J. P. et al. Oxygen binding to cobalt porphyrins. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 100, 2761–2766 (1978)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank W.A. Goddard and T. Cagin for help with dendrimer modelling. This work was funded by the NIH and the US Army Research Office. I.Z. thanks the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation for a Beckman fellowship.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, 600 S. Mathews Avenue, Illinois, 61801, USA

    Steven C. Zimmerman, Michael S. Wendland, Neal A. Rakow & Kenneth S. Suslick

  2. Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, 600 S. Mathews Avenue, Illinois, 61801, USA

    Steven C. Zimmerman, Ilya Zharov & Kenneth S. Suslick

Authors
  1. Steven C. Zimmerman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael S. Wendland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Neal A. Rakow
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ilya Zharov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Kenneth S. Suslick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven C. Zimmerman.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Zimmerman, S., Wendland, M., Rakow, N. et al. Synthetic hosts by monomolecular imprinting inside dendrimers. Nature 418, 399–403 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature00877

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature00877

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation